Presentation of the DIJUS (Interdisciplinary Dialogues about Justice) project

This is a seminar programme about the relationships of (mis)understanding between legal discourse and other sciences' discourse(s). At the end of the Project, through the content analysis of these recorded dialogues, we intend to analyse the convergence and divergences of knowledge sets, discourses and the way how they are "translated" and used in hiding/showing facts and building a truth that is comprehended and acknowledged by the legal system.

The second edition of this Research Project/Seminar Programme, which started in 2008/2009, consists on six seminars, to be held until the end of 2011, with the participation of professionals and researcher from distinct knowledge fields related to justice administration, from medicine to management sciences, psychiatry and psychology to social service.      

Abstract of the 6th seminar

As a traditionally emigrant country, Portugal has seen, in the last 10 years, an increase in the number and diversity of immigrants, while a huge proportion of Portuguese people continue to leave our country seeking better living conditions. The integration of Portugal in the European Union and the Schengen Area has required a series of legal changes which conform to the European directives regarding the rights and duties of the immigrants. However, each member-state has adapted its legislation to its own reality, with a long way to go until a true European citizenship comes true. Although groundbreaking in some matters related to the defence of irregulars' rights, the state services are not yet standardized in order to provide an unambiguous response within this field, with discrepancies and gaps which prevent of hamper the access of irregular immigrants, and even , to some extent, of the legal ones, to Law and Justice.

In this seminar, we intent to discuss the present state of the European and Portuguese legislation on foreign people, aiming at revealing the instruments are at the service of irregular immigrants (and also, legal ones) so they can access Law and Justice, in contexts of injustice, exploitation, inequality and victimization. We also intend to know the instances which immigrants may turn to if they need assistance to make their rights to equality and non-discrimination prevail, as they are determined in the Portuguese Constitution and in the wider international legislation, in order to reinforce equality among all citizens, including the non-national ones who contribute to the demography and financial sustainability of the European countries, which are aged and in deep need of active population.

Each speaker will make an initial communication of 20 minutes, followed by a debate session between them and the public.

Speakers

Duarte Miranda Mendes, Portuguese High Commission for Immigration and Intercultural Dialogue (ACIDI)

André Costa Jorge, Portuguese Jesuit Refugee Service

Chair – João Pedroso (CES)

Discussant – Maria João Guia (CES)

Organization: Research Group on Democracy, Citizenship and Law